5 comments about Crosley: Two Brothers and a Business Empire That Transformed the Nation.

1. If you are one of those insecure individuals who feel intimidated by the accomplishments of others, don't read this book. For everyone else, you are truly in for a treat. This book not only tells the remarkable life stories of Ohio brothers, Powell and Lewis Crosley, but also takes the reader for a fascinating trip through history. From Crosley's dominance in radio, ownership of the Cincinnati Reds and winning a World Series, appliances, aviation, automobiles and even helping to win World War ll- the list goes on and on. The monumental accomplishments of these two brothers literally "transformed a nation" and greatly impacted the lives of millions of Americans.
   
   Kudos to the authors for their meticulous research and a beautifully written biography. I certainly will have a higher degree of pride driving my '49 Crosley Hot Shot having learned the fascinating history behind the Crosley name.



2. I did not know anything about the Crosleys until I read this book and was amazed at all the products Powel Crosley dreamt up and created. It is a very thorough book about their lives and successes, and failures, but I give it 4 stars only because the writing sometimes detracted me from the story. (How many Exit, Stage lefts/rights can you put in a book and who even writes that way?) plus too much info about minor or unimportant things (Lewis' dog?) but still a good read, and entertaining and informative.



3. Great read for a radio fan or anyone interested in early 20th century business moguls.



4. I bought this book for my brother who owned a Crosley years ago, but I read it before I gave it to him. Great book! One of the best I have read in a long time.
   
   It was a great history lesson and you do not have to be a Crosley buff to enjoy it.
   
   Would highly recommend.
   
   Richard Flory



5. The person for whom I purchased the book absolutely loves it!! It's the story, the pictures and presentation that just makes reading it so enjoyable. I'm very glad that I made this purchase.

5 comments about Hershey: Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams.

1. The only thing I really knew before reading this book is that Hershey chocolate has been around a long time and there is a town themed after it somewhere in Pennsylvania near Amish country. Boy was I undereducated in this realm.
   
   Milton S. Hershey or M.S. as he was later known was the epitomy and poster-boy for American capitalism at it's grandest hour. Starting off as an apprentice to a Confectioner he was able to start learning the tricks of the trade. He found his life's calling and tried his hand at a few candy businesses primarily focusing on caramel chews. At this time in America, chocolate was not like the chocolate we have today (which is due almost entirely to M.S.) it was a rough texture that wasn't that tasty. The only people in the world that understood how and mastered the making of milk chocolate at the time was the Swiss and they guarded their secret with a passion. Eventually, after a few failed attempts at businesses in both Philadelphia and New York, he returned to his home to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was then that he started experimenting with trying to master milk chocolate. In fact after he had begun construction on his new factory in what would be known as the Town of Hershey, he still had not gotten it right, he was experimenting with a chemist up until the time the factory was completed when he got it right.
   
   The book is wonderfully written, It makes you really take a step back and think about not only the history of Hershey, but America itself. A time when companies and products were an explosion onto the American scene more than any other time in our Country's history. The book also takes a very intricate look at Hershey and his drive to support the Orphans that were taken in by Hershey's Industrial School, that, on paper own the Hershey company which has been a major issue over the years.
   
   I was so enthralled by this book that I am going to be picking up another book on the same industry called "The Emperor's of Chocolate" about the wars between Hershey and the Mars Candy Company. If you are looking for a great read and knowledge of corporate American history this is a wonderful book to read.



2. Michael D'Antonio has given us a serious biography of a complicated, but highly admirable, man. A "chocolate king" who founded a town and created and endowed schools and home for orphans is not a figure to be treated lightly, and D'Antonio does not fail. While there is no question that D'Antonio likes his subject, Hershey is not given a free pass. His enormous philanthropy is described right alongside irrational temper tantrums and firings. Spying on worker's drinking habits is described alongside his own gambling habits. The rise of the Hersey empire, and the town he founded, is described in great detail. The book opens with the drama of a challenge to the Trust of his school for orphans and the reality of business in this day and age. "What would Milton do?" is the question. What the book tells us is that it is by no means certain what Milton would do. He had contemplated selling his empire at more than one point, ensuring the resources for the continued care of the orphans in his charge. We see the rise and life of the Hershey empire, and Milton's relationships with others. The possibility of the true nature of his wife's illness is mentioned and described. Some have been offended by this, I'd suggest they get over it. It has no bearing on what type of person she was, or how much he loved her. We see the evolution of the business, the international interests, the town and school. It is a satisfying read. The only additional material I would have liked is some more description of Hershey's interactions with some of the other business and political leaders of the day. We are told of a feud with Wrigley, and the suspicion that Wrigley had cheated in gambling, but little else. We know of TR's trust busting, and that Hershey was considered to be quite apart from the Robber Barons of the day. Did TR and Hershey ever interact beyond the one or two mentioned invitations? If so, how? This historical information may not exist in the archives, but was the only gap I felt while reading.



3. "This book is almost as good as the chocolate bar. This biography of Milton S. Hershey and the chocolate company shows how hard work, ingenuity, and just plain luck produced the world's largest chocolate factory. The only thing that would have made this book better would have been a free sample of the product."



4. Michael D' Antonio has written a wonderful biography of Milton S. Hershey, the man who became a multi-millionaire by making milk chocolate a five-cent treat in the United States.
   
   Very much to his credit, D' Antonio delivers a biography of a complex man from another era without super-imposing contemporary politically correct value judgments. D' Antonio deserves a gold star or two for that.
   
   Milton Hershey's life is not an easy one to document; he was not an overtly public man. Rather, he led two lives. The first as reservd tycoon in his native Pennsylvania locale, the other as a a sometimes free-spending bon vivant traveling the United States, Europe and Cuba.
   
   D' Antonio chronicles Hershey's beginnings with his stern, no-nonsense mother with her Mennonite background and Milton's dreamy, never successful father. Backed with the unwavering faith of his mother and aunt and funds from his extended family, Milton pursued a career in confectionary. One business failure followed another, but Milton's faith in himself never faltered. Then he discovered caramels - and became the caramel king. Working with clearly limited resources, D' Antonio weaves an interesting story of an interesting man that becomes still more interesting when Hershey sees that the caramel market is limited.
   
   He sells out and could have easily retired to a life of luxurious ease.
   
   He had surprised everyone and married Catherine Sweeney, some fifteen years younger, whose actual background remains a mystery. She may, according to some, have been a "working girl".
   
   Though rich, Hershey pursued the dream of creating an inexpensive milk chocolate candy - and through native ingenuity and peristence succeeded. He built a multi-million dollar business that at one time controlled more than 90% of the U.S. market.
   
   The story of Hershey is fascinating. He built a town, Hershey PA, incorporating his utopian beliefs - and it worked. He created a sugar empire in Cuba that almost bankrupted him. He set up a unique orphanage and then endowed it with all his wealth. He was a mercurial man who could fire long-time employees in a moment of pique. He overlooked the failings of favorites.
   
   But no one (except perhaps some left-wing academics) could call Hershey a bad man. Almost alone among the mega-rich of the era, Hershey was animated by a true humanism and D' Antonio fully describes this without turning Hershey into a saint.
   
   Hershey is an exceptional biography. It describes an American original, Milton S. Hershey, a self-made man who shared himself with his workers, his community and his nation. Quite a guy and he has found himself in the hands of a very competent biographer.
   
   Jerry



5. The book provides a good description of Milton Hershey's life - his early struggles, his later success, the Cuban sugar business, his generosity and the building of the community in Pennsylvania and his relationship with it. Unfortunately, Hershey gave few interviews and wrote little so everything is one step removed and heavily filtered by the Hershey public relations machine. The author does a good job trying to dig for details and paint a balanced picture, but in the end the picture of Milton Hersey is blurry and the story is not engaging.

5 comments about Sweet and Low: A Family Story.

1. The story of Ben Eisenstadt, inventor of Sweet 'N Low, the fortune he amassed as a result, and its effect on his family (it ripped it apart). Told by his grandson, who belonged to the disinherited side of the family.
   
   A lively account of an interesting family. Ultimately, the determinedly irreverent, self-consciously smart-aleck tone of the narrator begins to pall. Anyone so determined to be clever, and to draw attention to their cleverness, runs a high risk of exhausting the reader's sympathy: about two thirds of the way through this book, I had the strong sensation of being seated next to someone in a plane whose anecdotes, though amusing, are nowhere near as amusing as their author seems to think.
   
   The abuse of footnotes makes David Foster Wallace look like a model of restraint. Dude - do you have any idea how unintelligible and irritating those nested footnotes spanning several pages are?
   
   The prevailing obsession with his own cleverness prevented me from giving it a fourth star; nonetheless, it's a pretty decent read.



2. Sweet & Low by Rich Cohen is a wonderful & delightful read. It is tempting to assume Mr Cohen's motives in writing this book. Regardless of his intent, he has created a tell all book about a family business.
   
   This book was first brought to my attention when the author gave an interview on NPR. Mr Cohen writes about a business started by his grandfather. It is a book about business, creativity, the intersection of business, politics, science, and crime. Moreover, this story is about the conflicts that drive families and friends apart.
   
   Weaving themes of the history of sugar, the growth of the FDA, and the modern business world; Mr Cohen has an excellent story to tell. The dozens of sub-stories, inter-related themes, and interesting background make this an enjoyable read. Yet, if one reads carefully, there are many interesting and useful ideas hidden in the narrative. How does one run a successful family business? In terms of overall productivity for society, what is good for a single family business may be bad for society. Would Mr Cohen be as prolific as a writer if he had been given a cushy job at his grandfather's company.
   
   The only negative that I can say about this book is that it gets a bit snarky when Mr Cohen discusses family matters. Despite this, his writing style is so jaunty and creative, it is hard to put it down. A good book and I look forward to reading more of Mr Cohen's books.



3. Rich Cohen is only getting better with time. This is a captivating story of the ubiquitous pink packet and the family business around it. Lucky us: a very good writer seems to be related to every remarkable person on the planet (see Rich's other books: the Avengers and Tough Jews). Find out what riches come from a simple but brilliant invention. Pretty hot family dynamics too - like the Godfather without the bloody parts. They are lucky to have Rich teling the story. Also, who would be better to tell the story of saccahrin and the FDA confused cancer findings? Forget blue and yellow, I swore to only pick up the pink packet from now on, bladder-be-damned.



4. I read this book along with a book club group, and we all agreed that it was not as funny as portrayed, nor as well-written. I found some of it historically interesting, but the excessive detail became monotonous after a while. We did find Aunt Gladys to be a really pathetic character.



5. Mr. Cohen is to be commended for this book. It is not everybody that could venture to write about the reasons for a family rift and do it as deftly as the author has done here. Interestingly, although the author had good reason to be bitter and angry, there is very little bitterness apparent. It's as if he was able to step out of his life and view the events chronicled as though he were a third person. From time to time, a little vitriol sneaks in, but these moments are few and far between.
   
   The writing features some poetic lines about love and about the author's observations of life and New York. I felt a vested interest in the conclusion of the book and was unable to put it down. Although the story is somewhat tragic in detailing the wounds so many have in their families, in the end, I could tell that this was a real family, with real people and real issues, beautifully captured in the family photos included in the book. Hopefully, the story is not yet over. I would like to have heard the phone call between Gladys and Viking Cohen once she read the book though!
   
   I honestly could not put the book down though. I would strongly recommend this book to anybody that is in a family business. It is a strong warning about what can happen if safeguards are not in place to prevent family business from spilling out into family life and to prevent individuals from running roughshod with bad business decisions.
   
   A well done book!

5 comments about Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America.

1. Certainly a good book to learn about the relation between two of America's great industrialists. Very easy reading.



2. Bought this for my son, graduating with an economics degree; gives an interesting perspective on past economic crises, the movers and the shakers who bear some resemblance to those calling the shots today. very readable and enjoyable as per my son.



3. The book is fairly well-written & is easy to read. As far as it goes, it is an accurate account of the often tumultuous relationship between Carnegie & Frick, focusing of course on the Homestead Strike.
   
   Standiford does a reasonably good job of fleshing out the personalities of the key actors in the drama. While hardly a definitive study of the period, this book would serve well as an introductory work into this particular subject.



4. I just returned from Pittsburgh when I found this book at a local bookstore. Interested in learning more about the Homestead lockout/strike of 1892, I purchased this book and was never disappointed. Very readable... and entertaining. The author has a gift for bringing to life people and events that surely could have been dull and boring. I thank every steel worker who ever worked at Homestead, for every ride at Kennywood Amusement Park and for every steel framed skyscraper/construction that exist in my own New York City home! I thank the author for revealing the 'war that goes on within us' that was exhibited in the personalities of Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. Thank you.



5. Meet You in Hell is well-researched and well-written. I enjoyed it very much and have been recommending it to my patrons who like non-fiction.

4 comments about Minding the Store: A Memoir.

1. I guess it was my Business degree & marketing background I brought to the Architecture Masters program that made the Dean feel this might be my best contribution to the profession. Why else would he have presented me with this book upon defending my thesis project & graduating - was it really almost 30 years ago?
   
   Now #2 of 4 kids is graduating college in advertising and I can't resist getting her this insightful, revealing history of a magic retail legacy that began in our home town. In fact, my mother grew up in the Adolphus - the marketing ally of Neimans - why else the memorable Thanksgiving parades? So this book certainly has roots to love for marketing majors, Dallasites, those in the fine arts, fashion. But it is more - much more.
   
   The book teaches the rewards of quality, value and commitments to the good of the customer. It's not the mystique of the His & Hers fabulous Christmas catalogue gifts that make cash flow, its the quality of the $10 dresses. It's not the suit, it's the fitting; it's not the price, it's the value; it's not the steak, it's the sizzle. I hope the book passes on the value of ethics, its rewards, mystique and satisfaction, while proving the theory is all true and still alive & well today. Besides all that, it's a fun book to read.



2. This book, like "Quest for the Best" is an absolutely fascinating look into the world of high-end retailing. It should be in every business student's library.



3. I've read two books by S. Marcus - "Quest for the Best" and "Minding the Store". Both are fascinating.
   Without any doubt, Stanley Marcus is the most talented American retailer of the 20th century. You will find out from this lively narrative what made him the best - impeccable taste, discriminate merchandising, extensive knowledge of manufacturing, business vision, professional honesty and breadth of intellectual interests. If you aspire to be a specialty retailer, drop 99% of the books about selling, they will not show you a worthy real-life example of how to run a store that customers can not resist to visit. Marcus does not hold back any secrets how he did it.
   Read, laugh and get inspired.



4. A friendly and enjoyable tale of success in the retail business and how success was accomplished. Stanley Marcus recounts the growth of his family business and the stories of customer demands and customer service that created a hugely profitable and customer orientated retail empire.

   While customer service is the primary focus of the book, creating innovative and exclusive items for the very wealthy provides a glimpse into how the rich find ways to dispose of their money. Marcus was a master of imaginative packages.

   I bought 4 copies of the original edition and gave them away to people in sales. There is no better book for a young, or old, sales person to read.

5 comments about The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed.

1. This is a very interesting book about the Gucci family, but it at times delved too much into all the business and acquisitions. It got at times really complexed. Having said that, it was a really good and interesting book. It was almost as if the author didn't want the story to end. I am glad I read it.



2. Yes, the Gucci story is intriguing. And yes, Ms. Forden provides some historical facts. But remember, this is a book. It should be readable. Ms. Forden's constant and trivial inclusion of far too much 'stuff' is more annoying than enlightening.
   
   This book could be condensed into 200 pages. Thoughtfully written and entertaining by someone other than Ms. Forden. It is a laborious task to tread through the boring an completely unnecessary details. Ms. Forden, no one cares about the work history of then-Head-of BergdorfGoodman.
   
   Poorly written, this book is one long magazine article. Paragraph after paragraph of unnecessary filler. I suggest you find some other way to capture the history of the Gucci company.



3. The subtitle said it all: "A sensational story of murder, madness, glamour and greed". The perfect combination for a successful novel that in reality has been real life. Read it!



4. I have inherited and purchased a few Gucci pieces, and have been so fond of the quality of their products that I thought I would read this book as a "light read." I was completely surprised by the first chapter that I just kept on turning the pages. It's anything but a light read, but a great read! This book really does have it all, including a tremendous education into the fashion empire. I also love the Italian detail and family disfunction. The author did a fantastic job of weaving the intimate details of a family, a business, and a family business. I have not lost an ounce of respect for the Gucci product, in fact I am more of a fan. Blood, sweat, and tears.



5. The House of Gucci reads like a soap opera in book form. Dramatic elements involving the fashion industry, business, and a dysfunctional family are deftly interwoven into a book that is impossible to put down. This novel is a perfect example of how power and greed can lead to the downward spiral of an outwardly- perfect family. Forden writes in a way that would keep any of a number of people riveted, including the fashionistas, the business- savvy,and those who are simply fond of the Italian culture. I have not hesitated in recommending this book to friends and family.

5 comments about Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

1. My recommendation on this book is very nuanced. This book is very good in that it is an excellent collection of facts on "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt. More specifically, this is one of the few, greatly detailed books on the Commodore in existence. In this biography, you will read about Vanderbilt's ingenuity as a steamship captain, his defiant stance and eventual victory against the state-enforced steamboat monopoly of Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston, his prodigious success as a railroad magnate and his spirited offer to personally help, as a steamship captain, the Union army hunt down the USS Merrimack, an ironclad steam-propelled Confederate warship. The adventures of Cornelius Vanderbilt often reads better than fiction!
   
   Unfortunately, this book is often unpleasant to read because the author seems to relish bashing Cornelius Vanderbilt for many of his colorful but reprehensible personal attributes. Renehan really seems to go out of his way to gleefully remind the readers how Cornelius Vanderbilt was illiterate, how he displayed little command of the English language and how he seemed to ridicule and despise individuals who valued intellectual pursuits. To me, it almost seemed as if the author wanted to persuade the readers that despite Vanderbilt's immense business achievements, he cannot really be that great because he cannot spell properly.
   
   This schadenfreude towards Vanderbilt is further exemplified in how the author really seems to take great pleasure in reporting Vanderbilt getting swindled by Jay Gould during his struggle for control of the Erie Railroad. The author unsympathetically describes Vanderbilt as having to "lick his wounds" as if he is a pathetic, scalded dog who got what he deserved and not a great businessmen who was sold fraudulent stock certificates (as implies the allegation against Jay Gould).
   
   Not to leave any personal vice unexplored, this book also delves into Vanderbilt's unadmirable relationships with the many women in his life. In this book, you will learn about Vanderbilt's habitual womanizing with the most uncouth of women, his being cajoled by his girlfriends to bankroll the mass production of Marxist literature, his (eventually fatal) contraction of STDs and in the grand finale of all odious personal acts, his (presumably unjust) institutionalization of his wife allegedly to allow him to continue his illicit affairs. If the last part is even remotely true, then Vanderbilt has truly led a disgusting personal life.
   
   To be clear, I certainly do not think that the author should deny that Cornelius Vanderbilt did not live an admirable personal life. However, the only reason why Cornelius Vanderbilt is in history books is because of his achievements as a great industrialist. The relentless descriptions of Vanderbilt's illiteracy, his philandering, his boorishness and his other negative attributes is at best overemphasized, if not downright annoying and immature. I did not get this book because I wanted to read about what a horrible personal Cornelius Vanderbilt was; I read this book because I wanted to get a better understanding of his remarkable achievements as an industrialist.
   
   In summary, a good book on Cornelius Vanderbilt today is a scarce reason indeed. For this reason, I definitely recommend this book until something better comes along as it is a very good source of information on Vanderbilt's accomplishments as a businessman. However, be warned of the constant bashing of Vanderbilt for his hideous personal character contained within, as it really is irritating.



2. At his death in 1877, Cornelius Vanderbilt, the "Commodore", had amassed more money than any American. Edward J. Renahan's book is a brief examination of his personal and professional life. Vanderbilt was born on Staten Island, New York, to a poor family that had to sail if they were to escape from their relative isolation. From his earliest days, Vanderbilt provided reliable transpoprtation of people and freight for the lowest fees. Gradually, he acquired larger and more modern craft and expanded his activities around the Northeast, and then the Western hemisphere. He acquired his first railroad as a short connector between docks, but eventually came to control or own stock in many rail companies. What made Vanderbilt different from most people was his drive to keep expanding. Not only did he increase water routes, but he branched into steamships, then to railroads and finally to backroom stock manipulation. Most people would have curtailed their radical growth and been content to do one thing well, but Vanderbilt was comfortable with the constant thrill of new routes, better machines and continual competition. The competition was cutthroat and many big lines would have gladly smothered the hard-working Vanderbilt had he not moved into less developed, more profitable arenas. And, he had no compunctions about strangling his rivals whenever he could.
   
   Renehan's portrait of the Commodore is generally unfavorable. He was a wiley businessman and had practices that are now illegal. He treated his family badly- eg. had his wife committed when she refused to move to a new home. He also was intent on keeping his fortune together and left scraps to most of his children. (Only one son, Billy, won his approval as the mogul who would take his place.) The Commodore had a weakness for lower class harlots and paid for his wenching by dying miserably of syphilis. Perhaps most damning, is the fact that Vanderbilt gave away very little of his fortune. (Vanderbilt University somehow coaxed about $1 million from him, but noblesse oblige was not in his world view.
   
   Despite this, there are admirable traits that shine through. Vanderbilt had no family connections or inherited wealth to draw from. He was virtually illiterate and required secretaries to read and write his business transactions. He lacked polish and the drawing room manners so essential for acceptance in New York society. But, the Commodore didn't pretend to be what he was not. He did not waste his money fawning over European arts and pleasures; racing steeds and racy strumpets seem to have been his only extravagances. There seems to be a solid historical record of Vanderbilt's business dealings, but this biography lacks the family tales and back-room, old boy yarns that would give this book more human interest. (I don't know that this is the author's fault- maybe the Commodore was silent or humorless.) Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable study of one of the 19th century's most important men.



3. Cornelius Vanderbilt's life makes for anything but a dull story. It is a classic 19th century rags to riches story in which a farmer's cunning and pugnacious son forges a powerful shipping empire through any means at his disposal. The Commodore goes so far as to orchestrate a coup against an American puppet government in Nicaragua to push up the value of his stock. Renehan spins a fine yarn, but also dwells in tedious detail on the antitrust and state vs. federal government dynamic - i.e. his sections on Ogden and Gibbons - which are unnecessary and less relevant in a brief book about Vanderbilt.
   
   Overall, the book is informative and colored with choice anecdotes. During his slow syphilis induced demise, a septuagenarian Vanderbilt takes a pair of young sisters - one only in her twenties - as mistresses which he believes to have magnetic healing powers. Ultimately the two women go on to start the first female owned brokerage - relying on inside information provided by Vanderbilt's son in an effort to keep them away from his married father - the Commodore.



4. Tycoon "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt is an important figure in the history of American business. Author Edward J. Renehan Jr. set out to "put a face" on Vanderbilt's ambition, enterprise and mania for wealth, and he succeeded. You will get a solid understanding of the vast, rapid changes the U.S. experienced during Vanderbilt's life and his significant role in that change. His descendants, including his granddaughter, designer Gloria Vanderbilt, and her son, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, continue to be prominent. Though this interesting, reportorial biography could have focused more on the historic context and economic impact of this financial giant, and a bit less on his all-too-human failings, getAbstract finds that it deserves to be read by anyone who is interested in American history.



5. The Author has previously done marvelous work with the Jay Gould biography. In this case, while the book makes a good read, there is too much coverage of irrelevant material, such as the shipping wars in New York and New Jersey, at the time the Commodore was a mere employee, or the Vanderbilt Bronze, a statue now towering over Grand Central. I hope that in future editions, the author correct these imbalances, and puts more emphasis on Vanderbilt's incredible transition from Shipping to Railroading, which I am sure the author's considerable talent will allow. Despite these shortcomings, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK to anyone interested in business, or business history. Nitsan Ben-Horin, New York

2 comments about The Merchant of Prato: Francesco Di Marco Datini, 1335-1410 (Nonpareil Book, #41.).

1. Superbly researched and written, this is a book of history taken from the detailed dairies of a successful merchant in 14th century Prato, Italy. Any one interested in daily life in this period will appreciate this book.



2. This is probably the most famous book of Iris Origo, who at the same time offers to the world the most extensive study of Francesco di Marco Datini, a Tuscan merchant of the pre-renaissance. The book is directly based on thousands of letters and contracts that were found in the 1870's and that allow this unique insight into the life and the work of a merchant, but also a private person of his time (1335-1410).
   
   The book is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the merchant; the second part discusses the head of the private household. Since the source used is extremely large (500 account books, 300 associate contracts, insurances, transport documents, etc., but above all more than 140000 letters, of which 11000 are private correspondence). With such a source, and the research efforts that went into this book, we thus get a very detail insight, which is a delight to read. Not only, does the author discuss the career of a true self-made man, but also does she explain, in the first part, how international trade, at the eve of the commercial revolution that preceded Datini's life-time, was organised. In the second part we learn about his marriage, his life in the 14th Century, and of course his excesses.
   
   The style is easy and straight-forward. The author goes into great detail, almost a flauberian style, to explain everything that the reader might want to. Five stars are awarded for this truly excellent piece of work!

5 comments about Murdoch.

1. Rupert Murdoch is one of the most interesting business men of our day. His growth at the Fox Network and other various news outlets has made him one of the most powerful men on the planet. Shawcross does an excellent biography telling about his life in Australia up through his dominant position in America today. It covers the start of the fourth network as well as the New York post and battles with government regulators. It stops before the Fox News Channel really gets going but this still remains the best biography on Murdoch that has been done to date.



2. When I read William Shawcross' "Murdoch" back when it was originally published (early 90s), I thought it was one of the best biographies I had read. I especially liked the author's focus on his subject's "pre-News" days, most notably a very memorable discussion on Murdoch's infatuation with Marxism during his university days.

   Murdoch explains that period away with the following answer: "If you're 20 and not a communist, you have no heart; and if you're 40 and not a capitalist, you have no head."

   Shawcross then painstakingly builds a portrait of a man who - over the next 30 years - slides clear across the spectrum to become Maggie Thatcher's biggest champion. There's a great blow-by-blow of Murdoch's battle with the press unions at Wapping, with Thatcher's tacit support.

   Of course, things in Murdoch's world move quickly, so Shawcross put out an update edition (this one) in 1997. Now, we need an update to the update. So much has transpired in these six years. We need Shawcross' take on:

   - The continued rise of the Fox Network (expecially Fox News)
   - Lachlan and James Murdoch's increasingly large roles at News Corp.
   - The DirectTV takeover attempts (Part 1 and 2)
   - Continued efforts to penetrate India and China
   - Wife #3 Wendy Deng + two new young children

   ...and much, much more. Never a dull moment with the man who fellow (now ex-) mogul Ted Turner heads up the world's leading "evil empire."




3. Very well documented personal (a combination of gambling instinct and dour puritanism) and business biography of the media tycoon. The rise of Murdoch from an owner of a small newspaper in Australia to a global media tycoon. His motif: "power, not money." The power to influence political/social history through his colossal media empire. Murdoch believes that the Americanizing of the world is not only profitable for his business, but a great good in itself.
   The author situates the ascent of Murdoch within the world political history (cold war, Thatcher, Reagan ...) and gives an incisive portrait of some of his collaborators: Barry Diller and Kelvin Mac Kenzie (editor of his milk cow 'The Sun').
   Written with a good sense of humour, e.g. "... Giles should assume the title of Editor Emeritus ... Giles asked Murdoch what this title really meant . It's Latin, Frank. E means exit and meritus means you deserve it." Or, after Murdoch banned alcohol on the working place, someone replied "Free drunks produce better newspapers than sober slaves". The tycoon was even asked by the Vietnamese government to make communist-controlled television more popular!
   Besides, the author gives a sneer at Unesco for attacking freedom of information. One minus point: on different occasions, the author refers to big financial troubles for the media empire without giving the numbers.



4. The book is quite exhaustive about his beginnings - and his attitude towards competition, employees and enemies, I was hoping to read more about the political favors that he most definitely got in other countries besides the US, Aus and the UK.
   I also wanted to know how these political wheelings and deelings have helped him - because lets fase it - with the amount of money/ business that he inherited, it may not have been too difficult for a few others to achieve the greeatness that Murdoch has achieved in his lifetime.
   Also the fact that he is still working might have taken away some of the liberty from the author to shed more light on the ugly side of Murdoch. I would have also liked more coverage of the 90s, when the floodgates were opened for him to capture Europe and Asia.



5. Murdoch is, to say the least, one of the more controversial figures in media today. His name still inspires visions of the pitched battles that have arisen around the pieces of his empire and the ethical debates about the role of journalism and issues of media ownership. There is a tremendous amount to be learned from studying Murdoch and the way he built his kingdom, and this book is not to be missed, particularly for people studying media history or the media industry.

   Shawcross presents a very balanced picture, light on both censure and praise, and manages to give enough personal detail to illuminate the public Murdoch without veering into a personal melodrama. The writing is occasionally a bit dry, but generally of a high quality & the source notes and bibliography are quite valuable in and of themselves.

3 comments about John Maynard Keynes: 1883-1946: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman.

1. This tome (including more than 100 pages of notes and indices) is an abridgment of author Robert Skidelsky's original three-volume biography of John Maynard Keynes. It is in all respects an extraordinary work. The author offers a portrait of Keynes not only as an economist but also as a philosopher and a statesman. He does not segregate these three dimensions, but rather shows how they interpenetrate and inform each other. He sets Keynes in the context of his time and circumstances. Skidelsky is unsparing in his treatment of the inconsistencies and contradictions in Keynes' life and character, but he is fair and balanced; he avoids sensationalism even in the treatment of the sensational. getAbstract finds that this book merits multiple readings and should intrigue not only economists but also anyone interested in the ideas and events of the 20th century.



2. Anyone who has taken a course in macroeconomics knows who Keynes is. Economics is full of camps, conflicting doctrines, feuds, rivalries, etc. Keynes was unique in that, unlike other economists who are indoctrinated or are in love with a theory, he was never scared of giving up an idea that did not work. If one was to read his "Tract on Monetary Reform" one might be fooled into thinking that it was Milton Friedman that was writing and not the J.M Keynes who revolutionized economic thought with his General Theory. This pragmatism is what sets Keynes apart from every other economist. But why Keynes was so different from others is something students never learn. This biography does an admirable job of tracing Keynes' upbringing, his education, career, and contributions in the light of circumstances that Keynes lived through and shaped his ideas. It is also full of nuggets about Keynes' idiosyncracies which humanizes the biography and shows the real person behind the aura. The book is long, but 63 years of action-packed life requires such detail. The Chinese say, May we live in interesting times. Keynes certainly lived in interesting times with the result that this book is just as interesting.



3. This book is Skidelsky's one volume abridged version of his previous three volume biography(1983,1992,2000)on J M Keynes.Skidelsky successfully weaves all of the different aspects and strands(personal,familial,historical,social,political,economic) of Keynes's life into a beautifully constructed historical tapestry that will keep the reader's attention from the first page to the last.All of the different talents Keynes possessed and displayed during his lifetime come alive on the pages of this book.Skidelsky is the master of his material as long as he concentrates on the vast nontechnical aspects of the life of his subject.Skidelsky has clearly mastered the historical and chronological events and interrelationships that occurred during Keynes's life. Unfortunately,Skidelsky does not have the necessary formal training in mathematics,logic,statistics or probability in order to properly understand or assess any of those parts of Keynes's scholarship that involves the use of formal logical and mathematicalmethods or analysis.These technical deficiencies in Skidelsky's academic training are the main defect,not only in this book but in the entire corpus of Skidelsky's writings on Keynes going back over 30 years.I will concentrate on Skidelsky's error filled statements concerning Keynes's A Treatise on Probability(1921;TP) and the logical theory of probability.On p.95,Skidelsky conflates the principle of indifference(poi) with the principle of insufficient reason.They are not the same.Keynes's poi requires a balance or symmetry of the relevant,available evidence or factors involved before equiprobabilities are assigned.The poi can't be applied if there is no relevant evidence.Advocates of the principle of insufficient reason,on the other hand, argue that equiprobabilities can be applied in states where no relevant evidence exists.Keynes always rejected this kind of reasoning.Skidelsky bases his assessment of Keynes's logical theory of probability on the error filled work of A. Carabelli and R.O'Donnell.Carabelli and O'Donnell base their assessments of the TP on four sources:1)Keynes's introductory guide to the measurement of probability in chapter III of the TP;2)F. Ramsey's 1922 book review of the TP in The Cambridge Magazine;3)F.Ramsey's 1926 book review of the TP in his article,"Truth and Probability",published in 1931 in a book of articles;and 4)Keynes's 4 page eulogy and very brief review of the book in 1931.In chapter III,Keynes had already made it clear to the alert reader,who had a mind of his/her own (and would not ape the preposterous ,nonsensical claims made by F. Ramsey that by nonnumerical and nonmeasurable Keynes meant that numbers could not be used in general to estimate probabilities,i.e.,that Keynesian probabilities were like a surveyor assigning nonnumerical heights to a mountain hidden in the mist)that the vast majority of Keynesian probabilities used in common discourse were/are interval estimates.John Maynard Keynes is the originator and founder of the interval estimate approach to probability.Keynes spells it out in a number of places in the TP:"...we judge that the probability of the actual argument lies between these two(numbers;reviewers note).Since our standards,therefore,are referred to numerical measures in many cases where actual measurement is impossible,and since the probability lies BETWEEN(Keynes's emphasis)two numerical measures..."(1921,p.32).After warning the reader not to reach any conclusions based on chapter III alone until after Part II of the TP was reached(p.37),Keynes gives his definition of nonnumerical in chapter 15 of Part II on p.160 of the TP.On pp.161-163 and pp.186-194(ch.17),Keynes presents his approximation approach .It has nothing to do with ordinal rankings(see Skidelsky's queer claims on pp.284-285,for instance).An upper bound and a lower bound are specified for some 13 worked out probability problems.One of these problems(a revision of Boole's problem 10)is then made the foundation for Part III of the TP.Part III is then made the logical foundation for Part V. Carabelli's and O'Donnell's "reading" of Keynes's TP is very poor,at best.Skidelsky's conclusions,based on their very poor reading,are very poor.Skidelsky also appears to have been misled by Richard Kahn and Joan Robinson into believing that Keynes was a strictly literary economist, who was a poor mathematician by 1927. Supposedly,Keynes had never taken the twenty minutes that was necessary to understand the theory of value(microeconomics).Based on these bizarre beliefs,Skidelsky comes to the queer conclusion that Keynes deliberately refused to present any formal mathematical model of his general theory in the General Theory(1936;GT).Any mathematically trained reader can find Keynes's completely worked out model,with the results presented in the form of elasticities so that a reader of the GT can compare Keynes's results with those of A C Pigou,in chapters 19,20,and 21 of the GT.Keynes then compares and contrasts his model with Pigou's model,who had also presented his results in the form of elasticities, in the appendix to chapter 19 of the GT.A technically trained economist should purchase a copy of the GT instead of this book.